How do I jump from thumbnail to Popup?

[ikoiko]

I don't have the need when displaying the Main catalog when clicking an item to go to the item details, then click the thumbnal to get a bigger image. I need to go from Cat item to Popup. Is there a way to do this and skip the middle part. I will be adding the details to the Popup - I hope .

DETAILED:

1. main page opens to catalog Category. A frame side menu lets user switch category.
2. As it is, one clicks an item in the Category view, and more details of that item are opend in a new window.
3. Clicking the image in the new window opens a Popup of the enlarged image.
   It is in the enlarged image that I want to put Add to cart, Quantity, Back(close), and Checkout.

I want to skip the inbetween (step 2 above) In short, to Click in 1 above opens 3, not 2 then 3

Hope that explains it.

TIA

[gjh42]

Rather than contort yourself to short-circuit the system, you can use the built-in flexibility of the system to do what you want.

You essentially want all the information in step 2 with the large image in step 3. You can set the "medium" image size which is used on the product info page ("step 2") to be as large as you want it ("step 3").
Look in admin > Configuration > Images and edit
Product Info - Image Width and
Product Info - Image Height

You will probably need to re-upload your images after this for it to take effect.

[ikoiko]

Rather than contort yourself to short-circuit the system, you can use the built-in flexibility of the system to do what you want....

Thanks Glenn for the quick and concise response. I do appreciate it. However, my needs may be unique in that I need the popup because of the existing page layout. It is framed (will be) with the category menu on the left and cat thumbnails show up in frame on the right. I need the result of a click on a Tnail to open in a popup so one is still on the category - so they can have more than one popup open at a time.
I have a template I made set up at (click here)
The left gray area is categaory menu, the darker gray on right is where the Tnail pics will be. Clicking, I need the popup. A page change has the visitor pacing back and forth too much.

[gjh42]

With that huge animated header, I can see why you're scared of page reloads! You need a fast computer and a faster connection than DSL to make it reasonable to use. So you are never going to market to people on dialup, I guess...

Anyway, you can use the per-page template capability to load a product info page that has no frills outside the required stuff. Someone who knows the mechanics better can tell you how you can change the call to open another window of custom (smaller) size instead of reloading the main window. Both of those require some knowledge, but shouldn't be hard to implement once you get the info.

By the way, it would be prudent to have an alternate header display set up so people without Javascript automatically enabled can see something on your site beyond a featureless gray background. You should be able to test for it - there are examples in some ZC php files.
The larger image popup changes to opening a new window with the image if the user has js disabled.

[ikoiko]

With that huge animated header...

Thanks again Glenn. Actually, it's the Host-from-Hades, not the page that is slow. Also, as I said, it is a template. It will be converted down in time. FYI - the script itself is just 11k, the page itself is 7k, total image total is 82k - in all, smaller I think than the one I am posting this through. It's my host - if you can all them that. I am looking elsewhere.

As for the Noscript - the site will be for existing customers. Businesses that now prefer to order their bulk online. If they don't have Java on, and/or are on dialup, they won't be in business for long. Yet - once I have the mechanics worked out, it will not warn them, but redirect them instead to a page, much like sites looked before the Internet had color :)

Anyway, you can use the per-page template capability to load a product info page that has no frills outside the required stuff. ............

Thanks.. I'll begin my Atlavista searches with your tips in mind and also visit in detail the "per-page template" you suggest.

[gjh42]

I understand about slow servers. I have a test site set up on my (old) computer, and it can take 20-30 seconds to parse a page... And if you are marketing to existing business customers and not random new users, you can reasonably expect them to have no problems with your setup. (Which, by the way, does look very nice!)

Look at the comments at the top of tpl_main_page.php for some info about the per-page template. I'm sure there is more elsewherre on this site & the wiki, but I haven't looked for it yet.

[ikoiko]

... (Which, by the way, does look very nice!)

Thanks - Did you notice that if you look at the water and not the mermaids ############## - the water appears to be moving?

...Look at the comments at the top of tpl_main_page.php for some info about the per-page template. I'm sure there is more elsewherre on this site & the wiki, but I haven't looked for it yet.

I've set aside time in the morning to do just that - thanks for the heads up on the places to look

[gjh42]

Actually, it was the water/reflection effects I was referring to, though the mermaid image is very nice.